Work gloves

ABSTRACT

A pair of work gloves in which each glove of the pair is reversible so as to permit its being worn on either the right hand or the left hand. The glove is fabricated from a pair of blanks sewn together along their periphery to form the glove. The glove blanks are fabricated from a knitted terry cloth fabric and are assembled so that when the glove is everted to place the seams on the inside, the smooth surfaces of the base fabric are on the interior of the glove and the terry pile surfaces are on the exterior of the glove. A knitted cuff is joined to the blanks around the wrist opening and a reinforcing path is cemented to the pile surface of the completed glove in the crotch between the thumb stall and the index finger stall of the glove. The reinforcing patch is likewise knitted terry cloth with the smooth surface inwardly and the pile surface outwardly. The patch is generally oval and is cut from the knitted material so that the minor axis of the oval is substantially parallel to the machine direction of the knitted fabric and in a similar manner the blanks making the body of the glove are cut so that the finger stalls are substantially parallel to the machine direction of the fabric so that when the components are assembled the body blanks and the reinforcing patch are assembled with their wales parallel to one another.

[ll] 3,739,4-hfl 1451 June 19, W73

United States Patent [1 1 Colehower WORK GLOVES is reversible so as topermit its being worn on either the [2/5] right hand or the left hand.The glove is fabricated from a pair of blanks sewntogether along theirperiphery to form the glove. The glove blanks are fabricated from aknitted terry cloth fabric and are assembled so that William s.Colehower, Center Square, la.

lnventor:

when the glove is everted to place the seams on the inside i [73]Assignee: Jomac, lnc., Warrington, Pa.

, the smooth surfaces of the base fabric are on the 22 Filed: Mar. 20,1972 21 Appl. No.: 236,430

interior of the glove and the terry pile surfaces are on the exterior ofthe glove. A knitted cuff is joined to the blanks around the wristopening and a reinforcing path is cemented to the pile surface of thecompleted glove in the crotch between the thumb stall and the indexfinger stall of the glove. The reinforcing patch is likewise knittedterry cloth with the smooth surface inwardly and the pile surfaceoutwardly. The patch is generally, oval and is cut from the knittedmaterial so that the minor axis of the oval is substantially parallel tothe machine direction of the knitted fabric and in a similar [56]References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1958 Ashley eta]. 6/1905 5/1960Fisher manner the blanks making the body of the glove are cut MacKay et12/1956 Presslel' et al.

so that the finger stalls are substantially parallel to the machinedirection of the fabric so that when the com- Primar Examiner Geo VLarkin ponents are assembled the body blanks and the rein- A U0mZyDeXter N 'H Charles H Howson Jr forcing patch are assembled with theirwales parallel to John W. Logan,J r. et al. one another i A pair of workgloves in which each glove of the pair 3 Claims, 5 Drawing FiguresABSTRACT PAIEMTE JUN 1 9191s FIG.

as I" I FIG. 5.

e the glove repeatedly.

1 WORK GLOVES BACKGROUND The present invention relates to work glovesand has particularapplication of work gloves of terry cloth fab- I'IC.

Work gloves are of various character, are used for hard and rough workto protect the hands of the worker. The material used in the fabricationof the glove is determined primarily by the character of the materialsbeing handled. Terry cloth gloves are used widely in machine shopoperations where metals are reinforced work glove made of terry clothwhich preserves the desirable characteristics of the terry cloth gloveand furthermore reinforces the glove in the area of. hardest wear so asto prolong the useful life of the glove so as to render it economicallyfeasible to launder I Thereinforcement'of work gloves in thecrotchbetween the thumb stall and the index finger stall is a commonpractice in leather and smooth-fabric gloves. Conventionally, suchreinforcement is accomplished by stitching a patch of reinforcingmaterial to the glove in the crotch area. Such a procedure issatisfactory for leather and smooth fabric gloves which are sufficientlystrong to hold the stitches and in which the presence of stitches doesnot cause substantial discomfort. Such materials are dimensionallystable, and do not stretch appreciably when stressed. Accordingly, thestitching of a reinforcement attached to the material does not applystresses to the stitching which tend to destroy the attachment. Knittedterry cloth, on the other hand, is

characterized by a flexibility and stretchability which enhances theconformability of the glove to the hand and it is desirable to avoidlimiting such stretchability. Because of these characterisics, it isnecessary to employ heavystitch ing to sustain the stresses which areapplied to the stitching by the stretching of the fabric I and attemptsto stitch reinforcing patches to the terry cloth glove in ful.

the. thumb crotch have not been success- Reinforcing patches have beenadhesively bonded to work gloves, but the use of adhesive bonds has beenconsidered undesirable where flexibility and. conformability of theglove is of paramount importance since the standard adhesive techniquesinherently provide substantially reduced flexibility.

With the foregoing in mind, the present invention provides a pair ofwork gloves made of knitted terry cloth which has a reinforcing patchsecured thereto in a manner to avoid stitching and to avoid substantialimpair ment of the flexibility and stretchability. of the fabric whichcontributes to the conformability of the glove 1 to thehand.

More particularly, the presentinvention provides a reversible terrycloth glove having a reinforcing. patch composed of the same material asthe glove fabric and I in which the reinforcing patch is adhesivelysecured to the exposed surface of the glove :in a manner to minimizeimpairment of the conformability of the glove to t the hand.

The invention is particularly characterized by the use of an adhesiveupon the under surface of the patch which covers the entire area of thepatch with a layer in an amount which serves to bond the base fabric ofthe patch to the extending pile surface of the work glove withoutsubstantial penetration into the base fabric of the work glove wherebythe pile elements on the terry surface of the glove provide flexibleconnectors uniting the reinforcing patch to the work glove throughoutthe entire area of the patch. y p

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the conformability of thepatch to the body of the work glove is enhanced by the arrangement ofthe knitted wales in the patch to be substantially parallel to thknitted wales of the glove fabric.

All of the objects of the invention are more fully set forth hereinafterwith reference to the accompanyin drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a view of the under surfaces of the terrycloth blanks used in fabricating the glove showing the wale lines of theterry cloth fabric elements;

FIG. 2 is a face view of the completed glove made from the blanks shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line- 3,3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG.

it should be understood that the glove is normally used with anidentical glove .to form a pair of gloves, each glove of the pair beinginterchangeable with the other so that it may be worn on either theright hand or the left hand or alternately on the right and left hands.As

shown in FIG. 2, the completed glove comprises a body portion 12 havinga thumb stall 13 and finger stallsl4, 15, 16 and 17. In the crotchbetween the thumb stall l3 and the index finger stall 14, the bodyportion 12 is reinforced with a reinforcing patch 18 and a wrist cuff isprovided at 19. h

In the present instance the glove body 12 is fabricated from a pair ofblanks 21 and 22 which are identical in outline but are complementary.The blanks are I stamped or cut from a length of knitted terry cloth,the smooth side being shown in FIG. 1 and the pile side being shown inFIG. 2. The smooth side of the terry cloth fabric is characterized bywale lines shown at 23 and 24 respectively in the blanks 21 and 22 andit is noted that the finger portions "are united about theirperipherieswith the corresponding complementary finger portions and extendsubstantially parallel to the wale lines in each instance so thatwhenthe blanks are dis posed in confronting relation, the wales of thetwo blanks are parallel to one another. When fabricated,

the blanks are disposed with the pile surfaces confronting each otherand a line of stitching is applied around the periphery of the twoblanks includingthe flnger.

portions, but excluding the wrist :area. The cuff I9 is then attached tothe open wrist portion andthea ssernbled blanks are then everted so asto dispose the? terry 2 illustrating an alternative embodiment; and IFIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5,5 of FIG. 4.

Inthe drawings, there is illustrated a single glove, but

pile on the exterior surface of the glove with the smooth surfaceon theinterior surface. Since the outlines of the blanks 21 and 22 areidentical, the glove is reversible and may be applied to either theright or the left hand, as desired.

In accordance with the invention, the reinforcing patch 8 is secured tothe work glove in the crotch be.- tween the thumb stall 13 and the indexfinger stall 14 in a manner to provide attachment throughout the entirearea of the patch but without impairing the flexibility andconformability of the work glove. To this end, the work glovereinforcing patch is of knitted terry cloth construction substantiallyidentical to the construction of the glove blanks 2 1 and 22. As shownin FIG. I, the patch. 18 is generally elliptical or oval in form havinga major axis extending coursewise of the knitted fabrieand a minor axisextending parallel to the wales of the fabric, the wales being shown at28 in FIG. 1. In applying the patch to the glove, the orientation of thepatch is such that the wales of the patch extend substantially parallelto the wales of the blanks 21 and 22 forming the body of the glove 12.Thus in the absence of other constraints, the patch 18 exhibits aconformability and flexibility substantially similar to theconformability and flexibility of the work glove fabric itself.

In accordance with the invention, the attachment of the patch to theglove is accomplished without the substantial impairment of flexibility,avoiding the stiffness which is normally considered inherent in the useof an adhesive bond between two flexible elementsQIn any laminatedstructure, the lamination reduces the flexibility ofthe laminatedstructure in the absence of special procedures to impart flexibility. Ithas been found that the flexibility of the work gloves in the crotcharea may be preserved by controlling the thickness of the layer ofadhesive and confining the application of the adhesive to the undersurface of the reinforcing patch, i.e., the smooth surface. With theadhesive applied only to the smooth surface of the reinforcing patch,and by controlling 'the thickness of the adhesive applied, the adhesivedoes not penetrate into the body of the fabric of the work glove bodyblanks 21 and 22, but rather is adhered only'tothe pile elements on thepile surface of the blanks. Thus the present invention utilizes the pileelements projecting from the basefabric of the blanks 21 and 22 asflexible connectors which are adhered to the under surface of the patch18 and provide attachment of the patch throughout itsentire area tothe'work glove but do not substantially impair the flexibility andconformability of the work glove in the crotch area.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, analternate form of reinforcement is illustrated. Inthis embodiment, the oval reinforcing patch 18 is omitted and a pair ofreinforcing strips 30 and-31 are applied to the glove body 32 inthecrotch 34. In the "present instance, the under strip 30 is wrappedthrough the crotch to extend longitudinally from the frontface to therear face of the glove. The outer strip 31, on the other hand, isdisposed substantially perpendicular to the under strip 30 and extendsbetween the confronting edges of the thumb stall 33 and index finger 34.While this method of reinforcing is shown applied to a glove fabricatedfrom blanks identical to those shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3inclusive, it is equally applicable to blanks formed of the Gunn type.In such gloves, the reinforcing strips when oriented as shown in FIG. 4extend substantially along lines of stitching in the glove body andserve to reinforce and protect the stitched lines.

The patching strips 31 and 30 are applied in the same manner as thereinforcing patch 18, specifically relying on adhesion between the undersurface of the strip and the pile elements of the underlying fabric soas to provide securement of the patch to the under surface throughoutthe entire area of the patch without substantially impairing theflexibility and conformability of the underlying fabric.

Various adhesives may be employed to perform the function of adheringthe patch to the body of the work glove effectively, so long as theadhesive in the quantity used does not set into a rigid inflexiblestructure. Preferably a resilient flexible adhesive is employed and theadhesive should have sufficient holding power so that the thickness ofthe coating is sufficiently small to avoid altering the stretch andconformability of the terry While particular embodiments of the presentinvention have been herein illustrated and described, it is not i vintended to limit the invention to such disclosures but 1 1;- changesand modifications may be made therein and fthereto within the scope ofthe following claims.

I claim:

1. In a work glove which is identical when viewed from the front andfrom'the back, so as to be worn; on

either'the right hand or theleft hand, the body of said glove comprisinga knitted terrycloth fabrichaving a base structure smooth on one sideand a pile surface on the other side, the smooth side being disposedinteriorly of the glove and the pile surface beingdisposed on theexterior of the glove, the glove including a thumb stall and a pluralityof finger stallsincluding an index finger stall adjoining the thumbstall to provide a crotch therebetween; the improvement comprisingreinforcement including at least one patch of knitted terry clothmaterial secured to each glove in said crotch, said patch being mountedby means of an adhesive layer on the under surface of the patchthroughout its entire area and of a thickness to thoroughly bond to thepile elements on the pile surface of the glove in the crotch withoutpenetrating into the base fabric structure underlying the pile surface,whereby the pile elements 'of the glove in the crotch area serve asflexible connectors securing the reinforcement to the glove bodythroughout the entire area of the reinforcement. v

2. A glove according to claim 1 wherein thereinforcement patch iscomposed of aknitted terrycloth material having a knitted constructionsimilar to'the knitted terry cloth material of the body of the workglove, and wherein further the patch is generally oval in outline andthe wale lines thereof extend parallel to the minor axis of the ellipseforming the oval outline.

3. In a work glove according to Claim 1 in which the glove includesidentical palm and back portions wherein said patch extends equally tooverlie the palm and back portions in line with the index finger stallat the base thereof and equally overlies the front and the back of thethumb stall when said glove is flattened.

I a t e

1. In a work glove which is identical when viewed from the front andfrom the back, so as to be worn on either the right hand or the lefthand, the body of said glove comprising a knitted terry cloth fabrichaving a base structure smooth on one side and a pile surface on theother side, the smooth side being disposed interiorly of the glove andthe pile surface being disposed on the exterior of the glove, the gloveincluding a thumb stall and a plurality of finger stalls including anindex finger stall adjoining the thumb stall to provide a crotchtherebetween; the improvement comprising reinforcement including atleast one patch of knitted terry cloth material secured to each glove insaid crotch, said patch being mounted by means of an adhesive layer onthe under surface of the patch throughout its entire area and of athickness to thoroughly bond to the pile elements on the pile surface ofthe glove in the crotch without penetrating into the base fabricstructure underlying the pile surface, whereby the pile elements of theglove in the crotch area serve as flexible connectors securing thereinforcement to the glove body throughout the entire area of thereinforcement.
 2. A glove according to claim 1 wherein the reinforcementpatch is composed of a knitted terry cloth material having a knittedconstruction similar to the knitted terry cloth material of the body ofthe work glove, and wherein further the patch is generally oval inoutline and the wale lines thereof extend parallel to the minor axis ofthe ellipse forming the oval outline.
 3. In a work glove according toClaim 1 in which the glove includes identical palm and back portionswherein said patch extends equally to overlie the palm and back portionsin line with the index finger stall at the base thereof and equallyoverlies the front and the back of the thumb stall when said glove isflattened.